Day 14 – Back Squats, Front Squats & Calves

It’s day 14, so that means we’re at the end of week 2: one sixth of the way through the entire 12-week weight reduction challenge. I’ve been taking the supplements for a few days and feel a little better, but I am feeling a little strange on hunger through the day: some points in the afternoon I’m hungry and then later in the evening (when it comes to dinner), as well as in the morning when I wake up and should be eating breakfast, I’m not feeling hungry. Something I will get used to I guess.

The main point for me is to consume the food anyway and worry about being hungry (or not feel like eating) later: I’m sure it’s just my body getting ready to the new meal regime and everything will sort itself out in a week or so.

Last night I did consume quite a bit of red wine and felt quite rough then I got up around 6.30am (I went to bed around 10.30pm).

Workout

Today I did a little bit of a different leg workout, but it still included squats (my favourite exercise). We trained early in the morning (around 8-9am) and I was still hungover, but smashed it anyway.

Here’s what I did:

Back squats: weight is an olympic bar (20kg) plus 60kg and I went up for the next 6 sets until I reached 80kg, which means back squatting 100kg (incl. the olympic bar’s weight) on the last set. All of them were 8 reps. So, I’m happy I’ve been able to go up by 20kg in a matter of just a few days (I was on 60kg 5 days ago).

Front squats: a new exercise for me was: 4 sets of 8 with the bar + 20kg. This seemed foreign to me at first, but I guess I’m going to like it in the future.

Calve raises: set on no.10 and do as many as possible in 5 minutes with the least amount of rest. I managed 110, which was 10 more than the last time I did it on day 3.

What did I eat?

I’m firmly on the five meals a day that I set out in my post about UP’s muscle meals PDF and I’ve just changed the settings on MyFitnessPal, so I’m all ready for increasing my protein intake and closely monitoring what I’m eating.

Breakfast

As I was training early in the morning I had a tin of sardines, which would fill my belly and give my stomach enough to do when I was completing my sets. I’ve mentioned before that I’m not an individual who can train on an empty stomach, so I do need to eat before I begin a workout session.

Post workout I had half a flapjack as my carbs/sugar intake for the day.

Post Workout Meal

I took some turkey lean thigh and breast mince and made some more meatballs today. They are surprisingly tasty when you add a few herbs to them and I tend to like them. I had these with some red grapes and broccoli – the grapes for some post-workout sugars and the broccoli for green veggy goodness.

Meal 3 – Lunch

Some cod cooked in the oven alongside asparagus to make my third meal of the day bringing some much needed protein but very little carbohydrates. At this stage I’m actually looking forward to my meals: I’ve realised how much I should have been eating more fish as I love it.

Meal 4

I had a chicken breast with some spinach. I fried the chicken in a pan and then, at the last minute, I mixed in the 100grams of spinach. It’s a quick and easy dish to make, but I did cook them in goats butter so I’m sure the extra 14 grams of fat wasn’t needed alongside the small wedge of hard goats cheese I had (see picture).

I also had some strawberries (100g) after this meal too.

Meal 5 – Dinner

For the ‘main’ evening meal I has steak mince made into a burger on top of a bed of kale. It was okay, but I expected the mince to have some more flavour. I guess there’s a reason why I should be eating the lean version but I can’t see why.

After dinner I was a little peckish so I had an apple and 100g of strawberries.

How I’m Feeling Today

I’m quite good today. Even though I woke up with a hangover and I had a hard workout on my legs I felt great throughout the day. I’m still adjusting to the number of meals throughout the day but I’m managing it.

I’m also resisting temptations around me, such as not having biscuit or a piece of cake which I think when you’re accustomed to just having the one it is a great move forward.

Going from an 80kg squat to a 100kg in a few days is the highlight of this week for me. I’m happy and impressed with myself, and I’m looking forward to three days away when I get to do some more squats. Hopefully I’m going to be beating my best weight of 100kg with something more.

After doing some research and seeing how my body copes with different foods I’m consuming I’m going to continue to follow UP’s guide with a few of my own tweaks in there. I do realise that I need to increase my protein amounts each day so I’m off to discover alternatives to whey protein and whether anyone makes any protein bars without whey protein in. Hopefully they will, although I guess they might not.

All of the information on this website is for entertainment purposes only. You may not achieve the same or similar results. Always seek advice from a medical/fitness professional before doing anything related to your body.

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